flass flass flass

When I moved here in 2004, one of my favorite stations was the tempermental Radio Reykjavík, 104.5. It was a rock radio station that was a little more off the beaten path than the others. But reception was spotty. Sometimes it would come in on one block and fade out on the next, only to fade back in again. The music mix was eclectic, but always held my interest. They wouldn't shy away from playing Rush's 2112 concept album in its kooky entirety, for example.

Then one day it faded out for good. It was just gone, dead air. I kept the preset alive, just in case, and indeed it did make a comeback for a couple days or so a few weeks afterward. And then they switched to an all-standup (comedy) format, not even stopping for commercials, for a few weeks. After the umpteenth goddamn Jeff Foxworthy session, I finally gave up.

Then I was flipping stations in the car a few weeks back and 104.5 is fired up again. But now in an all-new guise. Now it's called flass and they have the catchy/annoying habit of mixing "flass flass flass" in with their music. This kind of radio gimmickry is reminiscent of the old guilty-pleasure WZLX days in Boston, Chopper Man and all. But flass tends toward poppy/dancy but with an oldies edge: they wouldn't shy away from Ton Loc, if the time were right. ("You gonna make the call on them Porsches or what?") They'll even play Guns'n'Roses from time to time. This mix of styles is somehow intriguing to me.

You can listen to them online for yourself. Sometimes the music's pretty crappy, but it's better than dead air in a radio market that could really use some variety.